


To Old Friends

by auburn



Series: Green Sea [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-04
Updated: 2011-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-17 13:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auburn/pseuds/auburn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorne won't stop searching.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [murron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/murron/gifts).



> Birthday present fic for murron. Beta by eretria.

The rumor of a man who fixed things didn't pan out, so on the following week's mission, Lorne left his team to finish the negotiations on P04-444 and took the jumper through the gate to the next planet on his private list. He always took these side trips on his own. It wasn't that he didn't trust the rest of his team — they covered for him in all their reports after all — but it was his search. Only Sanchez, out of the four of them, had even known any of the people Lorne was looking to find. The years were piling up, but Lorne couldn't give up.

He activated the cloak and took the jumper straight up as he came through the gate. One glimpse had revealed the latest planet had its stargate in an expansive plaza at the center of a good-sized city. Circa the Earth's 1800s, maybe even the early 1900s, he thought, much further developed than most Pegasus worlds. It was raining and there weren't many people out in the streetside cafés, so he hoped no one had glimpsed the jumper. Lorne tried to keep a low profile on these sorties, since he didn't want stories of jumpers popping up to get back to Atlantis.

The storm clouds didn't occlude the jumper's non-optical sensors; they began automatically gathering data on the planet. Once he was in orbit, Lorne ran the same scans he used on each search. He had it down to a least-time routine unless there were unpleasant surprises.

None presented themselves this time, no Wraith were in orbit or within sensor range of the jumper. Lorne hadn't expected any; the surviving hives had fought each other to a stand still and many were retiring into hibernation again.

He checked the data curiously as it collated and displayed. One super-continent, mostly in one hemisphere, axial tilt more extreme than Earth's, several spots with concentrations of heavy metals, including what read like naquadah, and no major energy readings. He'd learned a lot about interpreting the data the jumpers found and figured this planet was just tipping into the industrial revolution.

The lifesigns detector showed vast herds of wildlife on the northern plains and he suspected the world's oceans would be even richer in life. Other than the stargate in the city he'd come through, he didn't see any sign of Ancient or Wraith technology. It was only a whim that made him take the jumper across the continent opposite the planet's rotation.

He started to turn back as the far coast approached, with the intention of returning to the city with the stargate and finding someone to ask if strangers ever came through the stargate. It seemed likely from the way the gate had been positioned in the plaza. It had looked pretty welcoming.

An alert stalled his hand on the jumper's collective stick. He'd drifted just a little north to avoid gaining altitude to cross a mountain range — one that could swallow the Rockies and the Himalayas both without burping. The difference in latitude let the jumper catch a tickle of energy from close to the pole. Lorne checked the clock and turned his course toward the interesting reading.

The jumper flew over several small cities as Lorne progressed up the coast and the weather cleared. None of the cities were as large as the one with the stargate, but they all appeared to have growing populations. They nestled on bays, at the foot of snow-capped mountains, wrapped in dark, towering forests of firs. Many of the trees were wider in diameter than the houses that tended to snuggle in their roots. Lorne swung out to sea far enough to spot more than one fishing boat braving the deep water and noted they belched dark exhaust from combustion engines.

The hint of power resolved itself into two unmistakable Ancient power signatures as he crossed over more pine tree forests and then near tundra. One looked like the usual Ancient study station signature and the second one looked like a jumper drive.

Lorne kept his own jumper cloaked and skimmed over a small, colorful town on a beautiful deep blue bay. He thought for a moment the power signature came from the town, but it strengthened as he flew over the bay and a moment later he saw the island and the tower.

"A lighthouse?" he murmured to himself and laughed quietly.

He circled the island slowly. The jumper told him the tower sat on top of a geothermal tap — nothing Atlantis could utilize. He couldn't spot any sign of another jumper, only a mid-sized boat docked in a small inlet near the base of the tower. Besides the modified tower, he catalogued an attached house, a barn, and the beginning of a greenhouse next to a walled in garden. Hairy, heavy-shouldered herbivores with spiraling horns were grazing out beyond the barn. Their long, chocolate and blonde coats blew in the same tangling wind as the grass.

The life sign detector showed him both the animals and lights for a group of people. The group was larger than he'd been searching for, nine in total, but Lorne let the jumper drift lower, hoping to glimpse someone, curious to see who lived on the island. He had to return to his team soon or miss a check-in and it made him more conscious of the clock than he wished.

Luck was with him, though, and he spotted a boy and a white dog head out of the house toward the grazing animals. From the jumper, Lorne couldn't make out the boy's features. He didn't need to see more than the child's hair, however, familiar as bronze in the sunshine.

Minutes later an dark-haired adult followed the boy out and, with the dog's help, they shooed the animals into the barn. The boy went in after them, while the man shaded his eyes and looked up as if he could pick out Lorne's jumper despite the cloak.

Lorne kept the jumper hovering because anything else would increase the hum of its drives and guarantee the man below would hear the shift. He was gripping the stick so hard, he had to lift his hands away from it and flex his fingers.

Sheppard — it was Sheppard and Lorne didn't know what to do now he'd found him, after searching for so long — cocked his head, then turned back to the barn, disappearing inside.

Lorne took the jumper up higher, and waited, hoping for another glimpse of Sheppard or anyone else he knew.

He was rewarded when Teyla, her hair in bronzed braids, came out into the garden, leading a toddler on either side of her. Lorne's breath caught in his throat and he had to close his eyes briefly as emotion nearly overwhelmed him. Kanaan joined her a few minutes later, wrapping his arms around her waist from the back and kissing her cheek before letting go. He began working among the plants while she played with the toddlers.

Lorne had to wipe at his cheeks with the back of one hand. Just to see Teyla and her man and her children, plus Sheppard... That was more than he'd let himself hope for a long time. The odds of seeing any of the others were low, but he wanted desperately to know they were all here and safe. He couldn't tear himself away.

"Oh God, thank you," he blurted when he saw Ronon loading coils of heavy rope onto the boat, dreadlocks tied back from his face, as strong and assured as Lorne remembered him.

Lorne wondered how he would contain the elation rising through him after he got back to his own team. He couldn't let anyone see the relief and happiness he felt or questions would be asked. He couldn't ignore the time either. He couldn't find these people just to lead their enemies to them, and no matter what what policy said now, it could change again.

He focused on bringing his emotions back under control while looking for the last, unaccounted for member of the team. Theoretically, he could come back and try to catch a glimpse of him on another occasion, but instinct told him he'd only have this one opportunity. He dismissed the idea of landing and talking — trying to anyway — to any of them. They had every reason to shoot first if they saw anyone from Atlantis and none to believe him even if he could get them to listen.

He couldn't wait any longer.

Lorne took the jumper around in a wide circle, taking in everything about the little compound, trying to memorize it, only to spot a yellow-painted door opening and a figure running out. He couldn't hear anything, of course, but the flailing arms gave away the likelihood the runner was yelling.

Sheppard and the white dog ran out of the barn door in response.

Lorne tipped the jumper in the air so he could see better.

He watched as McKay waved and pointed into the sky and Sheppard took his shoulders and steadied him. He sucked in a breath in shock when they leaned closer, Sheppard's hand on McKay's nape, and they shared a long kiss while the dog frolicked from them to the barn and back again.

Still embracing McKay, John Sheppard turned his face up once more and stared straight at the jumper. Lorne guessed McKay had some sort of sensor system in place in the tower and it had caught his jumper's signature. How Sheppard could sense where it was _had_ to be that old ATA gene; no one had ever lit up Atlantis or any other Ancient tech the way Sheppard could. The kiss had started out pretty tender, even if he was just calming McKay down, but that stare was pure Sheppard 'fuck-you' to anyone who didn't approve. 

He hesitated, but they knew he was here. There had to be some fear involved in that kiss too, from not knowing who had found them. This place looked good, like they were all happy here, raising kids and dogs and gardens. He didn't want to be the one who made them abandon it. Lorne decloaked and met Sheppard's gaze across the distance. He gave a thumbs up and a easy wave before cloaking again.

Sheppard patted McKay's shoulder and without another look toward the jumper and Lorne, led him back inside the little stone house next to the tower.

Lorne sighed and turned the jumper back to the stargate's position, pushing it as fast as he could.

Next week, he had another mission and he'd take another side trip, just in case someone was monitoring his efforts despite the care he took to conceal them. Stopping would be a dead giveaway he'd found something.

He wouldn't come back and could only hope he hadn't spooked Sheppard's team into running again. It looked like they had a good life going there and everything they needed.

His team were waiting at the stargate when he arrived back.

"Any luck, sir?" Sanchez asked as he dropped into the co-pilot's seat.

"Struck out again," Lorne lied. The regret he felt that he couldn't go and talk with Sheppard and his team, couldn't swear they'd be safe if they came back to Atlantis, leached enough pleasure from his discovery that he sounded truthful.

He sat down with Zelenka in the mess hall later, after debriefing for Ellis and Xiaoyi, the same way he did after most missions that didn't end in infirmary stays or other emergencies. "Another day, another dollar," he said aimlessly. He'd loaded his tray with care, however, picking out a meal somewhat different than his own usual preferences.

Zelenka peered at him over the rims of his glasses. "Perhaps you need a raise?"

"Tell it to the Air Force."

Lorne always ate his salad and savory first, but today he pulled open the top of a chocolate pudding cup and started on it before the rest of his meal. Zelenka's eyebrows went up.

"Ah, well, the IOA contracts are not generous either," Zelenka said.

"Want to come by my quarters later and gripe over a beer?" Lorne asked. "I've got some Keith's I've been saving." He'd been saving the six-pack since McKay had orchestrated the escape of Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla and her family. As Zelenka well knew, having been present when Lorne confiscated it during the search of McKay's quarters. Zelenka would bring a bug sweeper with him, the way he always did, and Lorne would be able to tell him about the lighthouse and the whitewashed stone cottage with its brightly painted corners and the scaled slate roof, the boat floating placidly at its dock, the white dog, and the people who lived there.

A smile, quickly hidden, lit up Zelenka's tired face.

"Ano. That would be welcome. We will drink to old friends."

Lorne scraped his spoon over the bottom of the pudding cup while hoping McKay had something just as good to take the place of his favorite.

"To old friends."

 

 

-end


End file.
